Checking off items from my life-long to do list

I feel when I write blogs after going on holiday, all of the blogs begin with "How will I ever describe this vacation to do it justice?" and end with something like "How will any of my other vacations compare to something this amazing?" And though I genuinely felt that thrilled with my holidays, this last week serves as the most adventurous, most thrill-seeking, most spontaneous week of my life. My body is sore, I feel like I'll never catch up on sleep, and my skin is starting to peel from my sunburns, but I would take those on for the rest of my life if it meant reliving my last week. We arrived in Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands, last Sunday. Gran Canaria is off the coast of Northwestern Africa, and small enough that it would probably only take about two hours to circumnavigate (it only took us 45 minutes to drive from the very south of the island where we were staying to the very north to visit the capital, Las Palmas). Though we had discussed some options for excursions before we left for the island, my only expecations of our trip were sun, walking, and free food and drinks (from our all-inclusive package). On our very first day we were given information of other excursions available on the island and I was hit with a very powerful indecisiveness and feeling of being overwhelmed from all of our choices. First of all, Carnival was being celebrated across the island the week we were there (which lasts throughout February and into March...basically like a month-long Mardi Gras to celebrate the end of winter and beginning of spring), so one of the days had to include partaking in the festivities. We were also offered scuba diving, a western-themed night, a bar crawl, paddle boating, jet skiing, sky diving, bull-riding, off-roading in the mountains, dune-climbing and dolphin-watching. All of these were in addition to the obvious beach bumming and promenade walking. How were we ever going to squeeze these all in? Well...somehow...we did. Everything. I can say I've swum with fish 35 feet below sea level for 40 minutes. I can say I've sampled prickly pear in the bottom of one of Gran Canaria's extraordinary ravines. I can say I've celebrated Carnival with parades, baby powder (thrown by those participating in the parade...we were absolutely covered in white), costumes, drag queens, and fabulous music. I can say I've walked through the dunes of Maspolomas. I can say I've ridden a mechanical bull. I can say I've been line-dancing with a bunch of Europeans on a Spanish island (and was the only American participating!) I can say that I've paddle-boated and jet-skiied in the Atlantic Ocean. I can say I've watched a Canarian sunset AND sunrise (pick your jaw back up, friends). And, with the most enthusiasm, I will be able to say I've jumped out of a plane. In the air. Falling for around 30 seconds before parachuting down to safety. But with all of these extraordinary adventures, with all these things I can check off my lifelong to do list, what brought me most joy on my trip was that which is completely ordinary and simple. Walking, listening to my ipod, and stopping at a cafe for a drink, book in hand. I'm not really sure what to make of it. How could something so simple, something I could do anywhere, bring me the most happiness during the sort of trip I could never replicate? I have the phrase "The best things in life are free" going through my head. Perhaps not necessarily free. But perhaps the best things in life are those things that are simple, reliable, attainable, and enjoyable no matter where it is done. Who would have thought that I would have to jump from a plane to figure that out?

Going international

I have written several posts about the benefits of working in a school that represents a multitude of nationalities. What I may have neglected to describe is how international the city of Brussels itself is. As the center of the European Union and the city in which NATO is located, Brussels, indeed, draws in an international crowd. I was reminded again this week of how that affects my experience of living abroad, and so I give you...
3 More Reasons it's So Cool to Live in an International City:

1. The Gangs of New York Party
-Last weekend my roommates and I were invited to a party held at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels, a party reserved primarily for the Italians and Irish of Brussels to go drink themselves silly together. We managed to finagle our way in using our best Irish accents and had ourselves a great time. It was a fun way to meet people outside our little social circle of interns and fellow teachers and talk about something besides students.

2. Burns' Night
-There is a holiday in Scotland created to honor the Scottish poet Robbie Burns. One of my close colleagues is a Scotsman and invited a few teachers over on Saturday to take part in haggis, oats, and hilarity. Indeed, I had the feast of a lifetime, and was still full two hours after I had finished eating. I was in disbelief, actually, at how much I could managed to squeeze into one stomach. Maybe it stretches extra wide for extra delicious food. The picture (I will try to include later) is of the program my colleague created for the event.

3. Listening to children count to 10 in their native languages
-Okay, so it's going to be another school story again. Today was the 100th day of school (I honestly can't believe it's here already) and during the whole school assembly, the principal asked if there were any volunteers who could stand up and count to ten in their native language. I got to hear the following languages this morning:
-English
-French
-Spanish
-German
-Arabic
-Hebrew
-Polish
-Icelandic
-Portuguese
-Chinese
-Japanese
-Afrikaan
-Maori (Native New Zealand)
-Dutch
-Russian
-Italian
-Danish
-Turkish
-Swedish
-Urdu (a language in Pakistan)

And this was just for grades K-2! How amazing it was! And even more amazing is those aren't all the languages that represent our school. This international business is pretty sweet.